Beet topper



N0v.17 1925. 1 V r14361166 W. HARTENSTEEN BEET TOPPER 4 originalrilea Aug. 27, 1921 3 Sheets-snau '1 Nov. 111925. 1,sez,1s6

' w.`HARTENsTl;:|N

Bmw TOPPER original Filed'Aug. 27, 1921 s sheets-sheet 2 w h N. i

fo u .$\F: M

Nov. 17,1925.

w. 'HARTENSTEIN v BEET TOPPER 3 Sheets-Shet 3 'original Filed Aug. 27, 1921 ro. n v M 3 anozuu,

-4 a citizen of the Republic of Germany, and;

` refer to like WILLY HARTENSTEIN, OF

.NPATENT OFFICE.

DARMSTADT, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPHINE vAMAN,

OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA'.

BEET TOPPER.

Original application filed August 27, 1921, Serial No. 495,928. Divded and thsapplicaton filed October 15, 1924. Serial No. 743,686.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLY HARTENSTEIN,

a resident of Darmstadt, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beet Toppers, of which the lfollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in beet harvesters, and more particularly refers to a-machine adapted for the harvesting of beets, turnips or 'the like, in which is involved the Operation of removing the tops of the beets. c

An object of the invention is to provide for the eflicient topping of the beets by the use of a knife supported for a pivotal or hinged movement at the forward portion of the framework of the harvester and mounted in conjunctionl with. tentacles or 'fingers which engage about and enter the leaves or top growth of the beet for the purpose of moving and guiding the knlfe to a correct position vfor removing the top growth of the beet and severing the same from the beet body Without unduly removing excess body portion which is valuable for its sugar content or food Value,

Another object of the invention resides in providing in conjunction with the top-,

ping knife arms adapted to close about the beet and to hold the beet firmly inpositlon during the action of cutting.

WVith the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, rwherein like symbols or corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of an improved beet harvester constructed according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken through the machine; and

Fig. 4 is a rear end view with certain of the parts left out for clearness.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 and 2 designate parallel side rails of the main framework ofthe machine to which may be connected at the rear handles 3 and 4,. such rails being made to converge at their front ends and provided With paral-` axles are pvotally vcoupled at their innerr ends to links 13 which in turn are pivoted at 14'to the side rails 1 and 2 respectively.

The wheels '9 and 10 are intended to swing upon the links13 in order that the framework may be raised and lowered as required to gage the depths of the excavating plows 15 and the pairs of lifting forks 16. For the purpose of executing a pivotal movement of the ground wheels about the centers 14 further links 17 are pivoted to the axles 11 and 12 and to cross heads or sliding members 18 fitted upon the beams 1 and 2`and connected asV shown more ticularly in Fig. 2 by a shaft 19. This shaft 19 .is coupled to a worm shaft 20 extending parcentrally of the machine and longitudinally. i

cause the feeding of thev worm shaft 20 either-1 forwardly or rearwardly. This movement in the worm shaft 20 is attended i by a corresponding Shifting of the Crossing shaft 19 and the cross heads 18 and consequently the links 17 v are caused to Swing the wheels 10 and the links. 13 about the vpivot centers 14.

Thex wheels' 24 at the rear portion of the The sleeve 22 and hand wheel i 23 are restrained against an axial travel but may rotate 'freely in either direction to framework ar'e, casters and are carried upon the standards 25 which have a swiveling .movement' in the harvester framework.

These casters however form4 no particular .part of the invention.

At the forward portion of the machine are mounted a pair of arms 26 which depend from pivotal connections 27 had with the rails 1 and 2. A topping knife 30 is carried transversely by the lower portions of the arms 26 at such an elevation as to come between the top 28 and the body 29 of a beet such as shown in Fig.`1. The lknife 30v is intended to sever the leaves or top portion 28 from the body 29 of the beet, and inasmuch as the line of cleavage varies as to elevation the knife 3.0 is pivotally supported through the arms 26 in. order that it may accommodate itself to the desired horizontal position and thus come correctly to a point where it may behead the beet with as little loss of the body portion as practicable.

The sugar producing portion of .the beet, or where the beetl is of a different variety, the edible portion thereof'is thus saved. A beam 31 is connected between the arms 26 above the knife30 and provides la convenient means to which lto attach a rnumber of fingers or tentacles 32 which are bent diagonally upward as indic-ated in Fig. l, and are adapted to engage in and about the leaves or topv portion 28 of the beet in order -to force the arms 26 and the knife 30 backwardly, .forfinstance, to the dotted line position indicated in Fig. 1. This action is resisted by one or more coil springs 33 connected between the arms 26 and the framework, although this resistance of the spring 33 is a yieldable resistance such as will permit the .backward shifting ofthe knife and its associated parts, and the spring has a further function to restore these parts to the initial forward position after the top has been removed so as to place the machine in readiness to operate upon a subsequentbeet.

Thebeam3l also forms a support 'for lateral, downwardl-y o-fset guide bars 34 havin 35gpivcted thereto and positioned to embrace lthe sides of the body 29 of the beet. The rear ends of the. arms'35 are rounded andfurged centrally ormutually toward one another by coil springs 36 wound about guide bolts 37 engaged through the bars 34:. These pivoted arms 35 are of course moved outwardly by the beet body 29 during the passage of the-machine, and as soon as the beet has been past the coil Springs 36 close the arms to their centrally convergent position behind or 'in advanceflof the beet and thus hold it and form an abutment for thebeet body during-the cuttin-g action of the top- 28 by the knife 30.

On removal of the top 28 the-latter is delivered to a container 38 situated in rear of the knife in po-sitionto receive the tops and which contains a laterally Vibrating shovel 39 pivoted for la-teral vibration in the container 38 and held in an initial position bya coil spring 40 while beingvibrated in an opposite direction by a cam 41 on a longitudinally extending shaft 42 mounted centrally of the main framework and at an elevaton preferably abc-.ve the rails l andr 2.

The container 38,V as-indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, is capable of partaking of a swinging movement with the'arms 26 to at all' times have this container at a correct a pair of rearwardlyiconvergent armsposition with reference to the knife 30 where it will receive the tops 28 as they are severed. The action of the shovel 39 will remove the tops 28 from the container and arrange them in a row alongside of the path of the machine.

In rear of the topping knife and its ap- .Wheel 52 meshing with the .gear Wheel 53.

A link 54 on the shaft 46 carriesfthegear Wheel 53 'for pivotal movement about the periphery of the gear Wheel 52. Twoother gear wheels 55 and 56 are interposed between the 'gear wheel 53 and an initial gear whecl 57 upon the stub axle 11 of the vground Wheel 9. A vlink 58 connects the four gear wheels 53, 55, 56v and 57 and supports the intermediate gear wheels 55 and 56 and has a pivotal connection with the lower portion of the link 5.4.

A bevel gear Wheel 59 is mounted upon the shaft 46 between the spiders and meshes with a second bevel pinion 60 on the shaft 42. This arrangement is intended to drive the cam-41 .as-the machine progresses.

In Operation, theimachine is either 'drawn along by draft animals or by la Vtractor, and the tentacles or fingers 32 engaging the tops 26 of the `Yber-its'cause theswingingof the arms-26 and the container 38 biackwardly to :the end that the topping knife 30 may be brought to a correct position between the tops and the beet bodies. The guide bars 34C'alsoengage aboutthe sides of the beet -body and the pivoted arms 35 close thereabout to hold thebeet for lthe topping-operation. After such topping Operation the top is rremoved to a receptacle 38 and .is expelled by the shovel 39.

From time to time as the character ofv the soil or a different variety of beet makes it necessary, the ground wheels 9 and 10 are adjusted so as to raise or lower the main frame together with the plows 15 and the forks 16, as-also the topping knife 30. It

vis well known to those'in'thi's'art that edible beets 'have a larger diameter than sugar beets, and consequently 'the plows 15 will have to be set farther apart when operating upon the former and it-willfnot be necessary to Swing the forks 16 so closelytogetheras desirasble when harvesting sugar beets.

The 'hand wheel- 23 may be resorted vto from time to time to cause a sw-ingingfof the ground wheels about the main framework and a commensurate raising and lowering of the framework and the plows, forks and other parts carried thereby.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the present invention provides an improved harvester for beets, turnips o-r the like.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the -details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

This application is a division of my original application filed August 27, 1921, Serial No. 495,926, which has resulted in Patent No. 1,517 ,559 issued December 2, 1924:.

lVhat is claimed is 1. In a harvester for beets and the like, a framework, a beet topping knife hinged at the forward portion of the framework and being disposed in the path of the beet tops, means to yieldingly hold the knife in a forward position, and receiving means for the tops cut by the knife.

2. In a harvester for beets, and the like, a framework, beet topping means pivoted at the forward portion thereof and adapted to swing rearwardly and upwardly, resilient means for holding the topping means in a normal forward position, and guide means associated with the topping means.

3. In a harvester for beets and the like,

a framework, depending arms pivoted thereon and normally assuming a forward position, a topping knife carried by the lower portions of the arms, and means associated with the arms and knife for encountering the beet tops to move the knife rearwardly to a correct position for topping the beet.

4. In a harvester for beets and the like, a framework, a topping knife and guiding means pivotally mounted on the framework' and normally assuming a forward position, and means associated with the knife for guiding the beet thereinto.

5. A beet harvester comprising a frame, a knife for topping the beets supported yeldably upon the forward portion of the' frame, arms for holding the beet in position for the knife, and means for yieldably supporting the arms.

6. A beet harvester comprising a frame, and topping means on the frame, a container for catching the tops from the topping means, andr a Vibrating shovel in the container for constantly emptying the container.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name heret DR. ING. l/VILLY HARTENSTEIN. 

